In adult patients hospitalized for asthma and treated with corticosteroids, antibiotic treatment may not be associated with better outcomes and should not be prescribed routinely, a new study suggests. The retrospective cohort study of 19,811 patients had a primary outcome measure of hospital length of stay. Other measures included treatment failure within 30 days of discharge, hospital costs, and antibiotic-related diarrhea. Researchers found:

8,788 (44%) patients received antibiotics during the first 2 days of hospitalization.

Treated patients were older, more likely to be white and smokers, and had a higher number of comorbidities.

Compared with patients who were not treated with antibiotics, treated patients had a significantly longer hospital stay, similar rate of treatment failure, and higher risk of antibiotic-related diarrhea.

Patients treated with antibiotics also had a higher cost of hospitalization.